Ok, so first off I need to get this out of the way. No, this is not just a clone of the beloved indie game Inscryption. Yes it is heavily influenced by it, and there are several aspects of both games that are similar in terms of both tone and gameplay, but I find it reductive to boil this down as simple Inscryption but done by a different developer. Inkshade is its own kind of beast, and has been a blast to play in the short time I’ve had to sit down and power through it. What exactly is good about it? Time to discuss!
The story of Inkshade is a familiar scenario. You are a mysterious captain about a ship who has woken up to find a creature with many arms trying to comfort you and encourage you to play a game it has set up for you both. As you play the game, you unlock more parts of the ship and through general lore titbits you come to realise that the board game you are playing is perhaps a bit more relevant to the story than you initially thought. It’s very much a mystery game at heart and it did find me keep playing to see if I could find out more about the captain and their current predicament. It wasn’t the most compelling of tales, but I enjoyed the mystery and all the new secrets I discovered led to a more engaging experience. I also loved the game master and all their little comments, they told a good story, and were fittingly creepy all the way through.
Presentation-wise this game absolutely oozes atmosphere. Like Inscryption before it the visual style is split between the two modes of play with the tabletop-strategy section seeming more like a series of dioramas whereas the visuals of the ship itself seems to remind me most of old 90’s escape-room puzzle games with bits and pieces around begging you to check everything and interact with all objects to find out more. It all works to bring a dark, moody atmosphere and the usage of light and darkness compliment the general atmosphere well. This can be detrimental at times too, but we’ll get to that later. I also found the music to be nice, though maybe not as calming as Inscryption’s as that soundtrack I could find myself falling asleep to whereas this works more as an atmosphere builder and action-scene setter rather than anything particularly cozy. Still, it’s an excellently presented game and I enjoyed just watching the visuals of all my little figurines wandering about each battlefield among the backdrop of total, consuming darkness.
For the gameplay as mentioned before it’s split between a tabletop turn-based strategy game and an explorative puzzle section in first person. You must make your way through the tabletop game to unlock keys which unlock more of the ship. This then lets you find stronger pieces after solving puzzles which then allows you to go through each tabletop encounter further, and thus unlock more stuff. It’s basic rogue-like stuff, but the fact it’s tied directly to exploration is greatly appreciated. I also liked that you could upgrade your pieces using currency that you collected for taking out enemy pieces, it worked as a nice feedback loop and ensured that even failed runs didn’t feel too bad as at least I could use the earned currency to make it easier for me next time. The actual tabletop game is nothing too special, with different units that can do thing like block damage, use magic attacks and other such things making it a simple to understand game that nonetheless has a tonne of complexity behind it, especially on some of the later encounters.
In terms of negatives however there were a few things that proved to be detrimental. Firstly, that nice dark atmosphere I mentioned earlier? As nice as it did to keep things hidden and creepy it also at many times obscured important puzzle pieces or additional collectables. I’m aware that’s kind of the point of the game as it means you really need to search hard but having such things require you to fiddle about with options felt very immersion-breaking and I would have much preferred if we had a better light to use than the crappy lamp we unlock. Secondly, I found the actual tabletop game to be rather confusing, especially in regards to symbols as none of this is explained in game so you have to work out for yourself what certain upgrades do and what effect certain enemy pieces may have when you’ve just encountered them. It works well to add to a sense of discovery about the game, but when you don’t understand the fundamental aspects of the core gameplay mechanics because they just don’t tell you about it this could lead to frustration. Finally, tying into that last point, this game very much relies upon the tried and true method of bashing your head against a wall until it breaks. You will be losing runs a lot in this game, and while the gained currency does help to soften the blow a bit the difficulty can lead to many situations in which you feel as though one small mistake can cost you an entire run. This equally frustrates when you don’t understand what some board pieces do, over time leading to a mentality of throwing things against an enemy force and just sort of hoping it all works out. It’s a tricky balance, and while I did enjoy the challenge it gave me, I could easily see it being disheartening to many players who perhaps aren’t as familiar with the inspiration behind this game.
Overall however I had a fantastic time with Inkshade. Is it beating out Inscryption? Not really, but it doesn’t need to. It’s a fantastic take on this style of gameplay and the changes the developers made really made this game stand out more. It feels like there’s a lot of hidden depth in this game that I’ve barely scratched the surface on, and I feel this title could have a lasting legacy down the line as more people discover it. If you like dark, atmospheric games with a sense of humour and deep gameplay then I’d certainly suggest giving it a shot. After all, I need to vent to more people about the insane boss encounters and how often they kicked my ass.